Sounds are all around us. Sometimes the sounds may be music or a friend's voice that an individual wants to hear. Other times, sound may be noise from a vehicle, an electronic device, a person talking, an airline engine, or a rustling paper and can be overwhelming, unpleasant or distracting. A person at work, on a bus, or on an airline jet may want to reduce the noise around them. Various approaches have been developed to help people manage background noise in their environment. For example, noise cancelling headsets can cancel or reduce background noise using an interfering sound wave.
While unwanted sounds can be distracting to anyone, they are especially problematic for a group of people who have Auditory Processing Disorder (APD). Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) is thought to involve disorganization in the way that the body's neurological system processes and comprehends words and sounds received from the environment. With APD, the brain does not receive or process information correctly; this can cause adverse reactions in people with this disorder. APD can exist independently of other conditions, or can be co-morbid with other neurological and psychological disorders, especially Autism Spectrum Disorders. It is estimated that between 2 and 5 percent of the population has some type of Auditory Processing Disorder.
When an individual's hearing or perception of hearing is affected, Auditory Sensory Over-Responsivity (ASOR) or Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) may be the cause. For example, school can be a very uncomfortable environment for a child with Auditory Sensory ASOR, as extraneous noises can be distracting and painful. A child may have difficulty understanding and following directions from a teacher. A child with APD or ASOR can experience frustration and learning delays as a result. The child may not be able to focus on classroom instruction when their auditory system is unable to ignore the extra stimuli. When these children experience this type of discomfort, negative externalizing behaviors can also escalate.
Some individuals with APD have problems detecting short gaps (or silence) in continuous speech flow. The ability for a listener to detect these gaps, even if very short, is critical to improve the intelligibility of normal conversation, since a listener with an inability to detect gaps in continuous speech can have difficulty distinguishing between words and comprehending spoken language. It is generally accepted that normal individuals can detect gaps as short as about 7 ms. However, patients with APD may be unable to detect gaps under 20 ms or more. As a result, these individuals can perceive conversation as a continuous, non-cadenced flow that is difficult to understand.
Other people with APD can have dichotic disorders that affect how one or both of the ears process sound relative to the other. In some patients where a sound is received by both ears, one ear may “hear” the sound normally, and the other ear may “hear” the sound with an added delay or different pitch/frequency than the first ear. For example, when one ear hears a sound with a slight delay and the other ear hears the sound normally, the patient can become confused due to the way the differing sounds are processed by the brain.
Additionally, some individuals with ASOR can have a condition called hyperacusis or misophonia which occurs when the person is overly sensitive to certain frequency ranges of sound. This can result in pain, anxiety, annoyance, stress, and intolerance resulting from sounds within the problematic frequency range.
Current treatments for APD or ASOR are limited and ineffective. Physical devices, such as sound blocking earplugs, can reduce noise intensity. Many patients with ASOR wear soft ear plugs inside their ear canals or large protective ear muffs or headphones. While these solutions block noises that are distracting or uncomfortable to the patient, they also block out important and/or necessary sounds such as normal conversation or instructions from teachers or parents.
For some individuals with APD or ASOR, therapy such as occupational therapy or auditory training is sometimes recommended. These programs or treatments can train an individual to identify and focus on stimuli of interest and to manage unwanted stimulus. Although some positive results have been reported using therapy or training, its success has been limited and APD or ASOR remains a problem for the vast majority of people treated with this approach. Additionally, therapy can be expensive and time consuming, and may require a trained counselor or mental health specialist. It may not be available everywhere.
These approaches described above are often slow, expensive, and ineffective in helping an individual, especially a child, manage environmental sounds stimuli.
Described herein are devices, systems, and methods to modify the sound coming from an individual's environment, and to allow a user to control what sound(s) is delivered to them, and how the sound is delivered.